What It Is We're Doing Here

This is a place where I post anything my friends and I feel is relevant to the music we like. The kind of music in question can be seen pretty easily by checking out the playlists posted. I post a playlist every month and regular record reviews. By regular I mean 'when I get the chance'.

It is my sincere hope that any reviews or commentary you read here will not remind you at all of reviews you can read in Rolling Stone or Pitchfork or NME or any number of other professional music reviewers.

Why? Because for the most part, those reviews are just really, really boring and they kill the fun of music. No one (aside from guys who write those reviews) sits around with their friends and mentions how 'the deeply melodic tempo shifts emanating from the counter-intuitive and soulfully rhythmic jazz fusion guitar lifts us to incomparable ...'

Incomparable heights of bullshit, maybe. Not gonna happen here. (I didn't tell you this, but I still visit Pitchfork every day, but only for the articles, yeah.)

It would be a lie if I said there will be respect for a variety of musical tastes here, there will be no such thing. Some music, no matter how popular it is, just sucks. That doesn't mean this is a haven of indie rock snobbery by any means. There's plenty of well-regarded indie shit out there that is just fucking awful. Grizzly Bear, I'm pointing at you and nodding my head.

Really there are no limits to the kind of music we'll listen to, so anything goes. Forward on anything worthy that has not been discussed in enough detail.

If we miss something newsworthy or get something wrong, let us know. If you agree or disagree with an opinion here, let us know. It will not change said opinion, but you will probably feel better than if you kept it in. So go ahead.

How I Rate Music

When I post my thoughts on a record, I use the standard 1-5 stars format for a couple of reasons: 1) It works just as well as anything else and 2) Most people use an iPod, I rate my songs on my iPod, the iPod has a 1-5 star ratings system and therefore it's a common language to both of us.

Here is how I define my ratings:

5 Stars: Totally awesome. A great song. Permanent favorite. Think 'Fans' by Kings of Leon (before the hairstylists), 'Mahgeeta' by MMJ, 'Fight Test' by the Flaming Lips, that sort of thing. A rare rating, though.

4 Stars: Very good. I'll listen to this song again and again, I'm happy I bought it, I will refer to it in conversation as 'one of the songs I like on that album'.

3 Stars: Just OK. Nothing wrong here, it's just not that memorable and maybe if I listened to it three or four times I'd like it, but if it was really that good, I shouldn't have to, so that brings us full circle and therefore it is 'Just OK'.

2 Stars: Irritating. A bad song. This rating means something is really wrong here, and perhaps we should sit down.

1 Star: A sin against music. Why did you record this? Do you not have any friends who listened to this with you and said 'Wow, this is incredibly, incredibly bad'? This is the kind of song that totally pisses me off when I hear it.

A few songs almost automatically fall into 1 or 2 star category, in particular the trend gaining popularity with bands to once again put one minute snippets of music or horrible noise on an album. Spiritualized, I am talking to YOU. 'Harmony 6 (Glockenspiel)'? I mean, fuck you.

How I Make Playlists

Any 4 or 5 star song usually ends up on a monthly playlist. If an album is so good that it has more than three or four songs that warrant being added to a playlist (ie Windmill, Deer Tick), I'll space the songs out and put them on a subsequent month's playlist.

Playlists are generally 35 songs or so. Any more than that and you'll just never listen to some of them, any less and you'll just get bored because there's not enough music. I realize this makes no sense, I really just needed an arbitrary cutoff, so 35 it is.

About Me

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Live Review: Mystic Valley Band, July 4th, Battery Park, NYC

There's a new guest columnist in town, he goes by the name of Bucky and this is his first contribution. I know, it's a ridiculous fucking name. Here it is:

Excellent show. Jenny Lewis came out on stage wearing an American Flag. Her voice is so good live. Every time I have seen her voice is just as good, if not better than on her records. Does she ever lose her voice? Her band was tight, rocking and fun. She did a cover of Chicago’s “Saturday in the Park (feels like the 4th of July)” which was so cool and appropriate. She also invited Conor Oberst and a few others on stage for a version of “Handle Me with Care”.

Oberst and the MVB were great. The setlist was perfect. I got to hear every song by them that I wanted to. Each member got to sing their respective song from the new album which broke up the set nicely. That ‘Air Mattress’ song is fun live, they noted that this was the first time they played the song during the day. Conor was in a funny mood, making jokes about the Statue of Liberty: “Hey what’s that huge statue out there, it’s really pretty”. Wishing everyone to have a Happy 4th and to get “fucking festive!”. The one member from Alabama just kept on talking about how overwhelming it is to be in a huge city like NY. They didn’t play any covers but that is okay since they played many songs. They ended the show with Roosevelt Room which was appropriate for the day. That Hospital song got the whole park dancing.

General notes Battery Park: was a great place to see a show. Statue of Liberty in the background with boats constantly driving by. No beer but that was OK as people seemed to be smuggling in bottles pretty easily. The park was packed with lots of families and lots of children. The park was also filled with lots of random older people that must just go around to all of the free shows. There were also tourists in there that I guess just wanted to see what was going on. It was a great way to spend the 4th.

One other note, I was telling my wife about how Conor Oberst is on Merge now etc. She had not known that. She asked if the Saddle Creek gang was angry with him etc. When Oberst was introducing the band he referred to Nate Walcott as his best friend and the only person in the world that he trusts. He went on to say that over the past couple of years he has burned lots of bridges and lost many friends and that Nate is the only person that ever stood by him. Molly turned to me and said, “Well, that answers that question.”